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1 READ & NOTICE THE GRAMMAR.

A When you think about choosing a career, what is most important to you? The salary?
The hours? Helping others? Tell a partner your ideas. Then read the essay.

Choosing the Right Career

Parents always ask what we want to be when we grow up. Very often, they wish that
we would choose a career that makes a lot of money. They might think this is in our best
interest. After all, if you have money, you have fewer financial worries. However, this doesn’t
mean that a high-paying career will make you happy. For me, having a meaningful, family-
oriented job is more important.
I would make this choice for a couple of reasons. First, people who choose a high-paying
career just for the money might find they really don’t like it. For example, I knew a woman
who was a successful attorney, but she was very unhappy. She didn’t find any meaning in
the work at all. She spent all day doing legal paperwork and preparing tax documents for
corporations. You spend most of your life at work, so it is terrible to dislike your job. I think
that people who dislike their jobs are not truly happy even if they are wealthy. Unless I made
enough money to retire early, I would not choose a job that I disliked. I want to enjoy my
work even if it means I will make less money.

In addition, spending time with my family and friends is very important to me. High-
paying careers, such as those in finance, law, or medicine, require very long hours. I know a
man in finance who is gone about 12 hours a day. He comes home at 7 or 8 p.m. Sometimes
he also works at night from home. His wife raises the kids. He really only spends time with
them on the weekends. If I had no time for my kids, I would be very unhappy. I know several
retired people who wish that they had spent more time with their families. They can’t
change that now. I don’t want to have the same regrets.
Some people value wealth and their careers more than anything else. They may not
care if the work they do is interesting, as long as it pays very well. Some people never have
children, and their job is their life. But for me, I want a job that I enjoy—one that will give
me enough time to spend with family and friends.

GRAMMAR FOCUS
In the essay in exercise A, the writer uses the following conditionals to describe conditions and
results.
Present real conditionals * are used to describe facts, general truths, habits, or
routines.
... if you have money, you have fewer financial worries.
Present unreal conditionals * are used to describe situations that are untrue, impossible,
or imaginary.
If |had no time with my kids, | would be very unhappy.

B_ Read the essay in exercise A again. Underline the conditionals. Decide if each conditional is
real or unreal. Write R ¢eal) or U (unreal) above each conditional. Then work with a partner
and compare your answers.

388 CONDITIONALS
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